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Meghan Markle‘s Hollywood ambitions were supposed to usher in a lucrative new chapter when she returned to California, but a series of Netflix setbacks has one expert questioning whether her entertainment-industry dreams have been derailed.
The Duchess of Sussex now calls the Cotswolds home, far away from the entertainment industry landscape where she and Harry planted roots after their royal exit. But the recent revelation that Meghan will be making a guest appearance on Junior MasterChef Australia has experts wondering if she’s put most of her celebrity goals behind her.
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“This is an entry-level bridge in Britain that gives her something to talk about, aligns her with kids and parents, but also highlights how weakened her career has become versus her hope of being a younger version of Martha Stewart, which blew up into bits at Netflix,” Reputation Management Consultants chairman Eric Schiffer explained to Page Six.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex at the 2026 Fifteen Percent Pledge Fundraising Gala held at Paramount Studios on February 07, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)
Variety via Getty Images
With Love, Meghan wrapped after two seasons, and any beacon of hope for a revival was likely wiped out after they lost in their Daytime Emmy category to A Different Breed, a nine-part docuseries about competitive dog sports that airs on Prime Video.
Schiffer believes her projects have “failed miserably” at Netflix, so the reality competition appearance is a way to revive her career. Despite the criticism, Meghan and Prince Harry are still working on Meet Me at the Lake and The Wedding Date, two projects which are considered “in development” by the streamer.
Meet Me at the Lake author Carley Fortune shared an update on the project in June, noting that they have “a director attached, and the script is still being revised.”
She raved about working with the Duchess of Sussex, revealing that she “really understood the story and what mattered about the story.”
“And we spoke a lot about it, because the story Meet Me at the Lake is a romance, but it’s very much about a mother and daughter, too,” Fortune said on Jenna Bush Hager’s Open Book podcast. “We talked a lot about parenthood and also about how these love stories are about so much more. It’s a story about grief; it’s a story about mental health.”
While experts are busy speculating about Meghan’s Hollywood downfall, she still has projects in the pipeline with people who are thrilled to work with her. It doesn’t sound like it’s all gloom and doom for the Duchess; it’s just that the process of making movies takes time.